Vice President Lien Chan (
Responding to remarks by Chinese president Jiang Zemin (
"Macau is a former colony and so is Hong Kong. But we are not," Lien told a meeting of supporters.
Jiang on Monday vowed Taiwan would soon be reunited with China under the "one country, two systems" formula guaranteeing autonomy for Macau, a former Portuguese territory, and Hong Kong, which was a British territory until 1997.
"This marks the significant progress made by the Chinese people in accomplishing the great task of national reunification," Jiang said at the Macau handover ceremony just after midnight.
"The implementation of the concept of `one country, two systems' in Hong Kong and Macau has played and will continue to play an important exemplary role for our eventual settlement of the Taiwan question," Jiang said.
Cross-strait officials in Taiwan, however, said Chinese leaders were out of touch with reality.
"To the people in Taiwan who have long enjoyed democracy and freedom, the extended application of `one country, two systems' to Taiwan is both humiliating and provocative," a statement released yesterday by the Mainland Affairs Council said.
Leaders in China have used the model -- first made public by Deng Xiaoping (鄧?p?) in 1984 -- in an attempt to reign Taiwan in, while overlooking the "reality of the longstanding separated rule across the Strait," the statement said.
Political analysts, however, said such grand statements were just part of the pomp of the Macau handover ceremony, and expected little else to follow leading up to the elections in March.
That is, they said, unless Taiwan becomes too assertive.
"For the most part they [China's leaders] will be studying the situation and trying to figure out what kind of a reaction they will have for each candidate if they are elected," said Wu Guoguang (吳國光), a political science professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
China will probably hold out until February, and then see what the election conditions are like before exerting its influence, said Julian Kuo (3╞翰G), a political science professor at Soochow University.
Kuo said he expected China would be keeping a closer eye on President Lee Teng-hui (
Kuo said he expected that most of the concern over the current Soong money scandal would have blown over by February and security issues would be a reliable button to push to sway voters.
By creating some kind of situation that appeared to be threatening, "Lien could show his strength because he would be in control," Kuo said.
Wu also noted that he had expected Lee to make another move, but now doubted such a move would come, especially now that the scandal over James Soong's (
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
SHARED VALUES: The US, Taiwan and other allies hope to maintain the cross-strait ‘status quo’ to foster regional prosperity and growth, the former US vice president said Former US vice president Mike Pence yesterday vowed to continue to support US-Taiwan relations, and to defend the security and interests of both countries and the free world. At a meeting with President William Lai (賴清德) at the Presidential Office in Taipei, Pence said that the US and Taiwan enjoy strong and continued friendship based on the shared values of freedom, the rule of law and respect for human rights. Such foundations exceed limitations imposed by geography and culture, said Pence, who is visiting Taiwan for the first time. The US and Taiwan have shared interests, and Americans are increasingly concerned about China’s
RSS